MARVEL AT THESE SUPERHEROES

With “Antman” still #1 at the box office (barely beating “Pixels,” which appears to be a ripoff of a “Futurama” episode), I thought it would be a good time to release some more photos of the UCLA Spirit Squad — heroines whom you wouldn’t mind if they invaded your space at a picnic

Adam Sandler went on a late night talk show last week to promote his “brand new” movie “Pixels,” which is about Earth being attacked by 1980’s video game characters like Donkey Kong. Sandler was raving about what a great idea for a movie this was, and that he was stunned that it had never been done before. What the man behind hilarious SNL characters like Cajun Man and Opera Man, and lowbrow comedies like The Waterboy, Happy Gilmore, Grown Ups, Little Nicky and dozens more might or might not know, the concept behind Pixels HAS been done before, complete with Donkey Kong attacking the planet. Not only is there THAT striking similarity, but also, in this classic episode of Matt Groening’s Futurama, the fate of the World is placed in the hands of a nerd who happens to be a video game junkie. Sound familiar?

The blatant lack of originality is not the only reason this $88 million dollar pic made only about $26 million on its opening weekend. The low take can also be explained by Sandler’s waning popularity, and on the critics trashing the film, and on a backlash due to the film’s purported poor treatment of the female gender. I will say one thing in Sandler’s defense — He is reputed to be a super nice, and GENEROUS producer and human being, often giving extravagant gifts (like Lamborghini’s) to his collaborators and friends. But that congeniality was not enough to push his new release over Antman, which was in its second week of release.

No need to cry for Sandler, who has more money than Morgan Freeman (get it? Freeman played God in a couple of films), since this film is still expected to make a tidy profit, thanks to its International appeal. But hopefully, all the negativity surrounding this project will lead him to next time choose a concept that doesn’t demean women, and hasn’t already been done.

Of course, my hoping for originality is actually pretty ironic, since I can’t wait for the new James Bond movie “Spectre,” the new Star Wars, and the next Star Trek — three franchises that have been done, re-done, de-constructed, re-constructed, re-animated, re-vitalized, re-imagined, and re-booted more times than you can count!

But until we get the return of 007, Han Solo, and Capt. James T. Kirk, here are 30 more photos of MY FAVORITE super-smart, super-beautiful, super-talented superheroes, who can save my world with a simple flip of their hair… and that’s just one of their super-powers.